J 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

THE  MUSEUM 
ANTHROPO  LOGICAL  PUBLICATIONS 
V  O  L.  I  I  I  N  O.  2 


EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE 

SPHOUNGARAS 

EDITH  H.  HALL 


PHILADELPHIA 
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  MUSEUM 

1912 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/excavationsineas00doha_1 


UNIVERSITY   OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

THE  MUSEUM 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUBLICATIONS 
VO  L.   I  I  I  N  O.  2 


EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE 

SPHOUNGARAS 

BY 

EDITH  H.  HALL 


PHILADELPHIA 
PUBLISHED   BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  MUSEUM 

1912 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 


INTRODUCTION   43 

THE  SPHOUNGARAS  SLOPE  AND  ITS  DEPOSITS   45 

THE  NEOLITHIC  DEPOSIT   46 

EARLY  MINOAN  DEPOSIT  A   48 

EARLY  MINOAN  DEPOSIT  B   53 

A  GROUP  OF  MIDDLE  MINOAN  I  VASES   56 

THE  PITHOS-BURIALS   58 


41 


> 


EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE 

SPHOUNGARAS 


INTRODUCTION. 

Between  the  town  of  Gournia  (Yovpvia)  and  the  sea-coast 
to  the  north,  stretches  a  valley  which  is  flanked  on  the  east  by 
a  limestone  ridge  called  Elatso  Mouri  ('EXarcro  Movpt).  At  a 
distance  of  some  200  metres  from  the  town  the  west  face  of  this 
ridge  is  broken  by  a  line  of  cliffs  (PI.  X)  below  which  the  hill 
slopes  sharply  away  to  the  valley.  It  was  along  the  upper 
margin  of  this  slope,  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Sphoungaras 
(^^ovyyapdq),  that  Mrs.  C.  H.  Hawes  in  19041  found  three 
Early  Minoan  rock-shelter  burials.  The  general  appearance  of 
this  slope — a  steep  and  rocky  slope  facing  southwest — corre- 
sponds so  closely  to  that  of  the  hills  on  Pseira  and  Mochlos 
where  cemeteries  were  found,  that  since  his  excavations  on  these 
islands,  Mr.  R.  B.  Seager  has  regarded  this  hillside  as  a  probable 
site  not  only  for  occasional  Early  Minoan  interments  like  those 
found  by  Mrs.  Hawes  but  also  for  the  extensive  burial-place  of 
the  town  of  Gournia. 

Accordingly  the  Sphoungaras  slope  was  selected  for  excava- 
tion, and  on  March  31,  1910,  eight  men  were  set  to  digging  trial 
trenches  near  the  center  of  the  hill.  Within  an  hour  the  small 
gold  ring  of  Fig.  24  came  to  light  together  with  fragments  of  Early 
Minoan  pottery  and  a  few  bones.  The  same  day  a  burial  in  an  in- 
verted pithos  was  discovered  and  near  it  many  fragments  of  cups 
of  a  type  associated  both  with  Middle  Minoan  III  and  with  Late 
Minoan  I  remains.  It  being  thus  apparent  that  we  had  to  do  with 
an  extensive  cemetery  which  was  in  use  both  in  the  Early  Minoan 

1  See  Transactions  of  the  Department  of  Archaeology  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
Vol.  I,  Part  III  (IQ05),  pp.  179-182  and  Gournia,  p.  56. 

43 


44  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 

period  and  at  a  subsequent  epoch  in  the  bronze-age,  it  was 
decided  to  excavate  the  hill  systematically  with  a  larger  force  of 
workmen,  and  the  next  day,  after  trial  trenches  at  the  foot  of  the 
slope  had  determined  the  point  where  interments  began,  forty 
men  were  started  in  line  at  the  foot  of  the  hillside.  The  soil 
was  found  to  be  everywhere  full  of  fragments  of  pithoi  and 
larnakes  and,  here  and  there,  where  sufficient  depth  of  earth 
remained,  groups  of  unbroken  pithoi  came  to  light.  Within  the 
three  weeks  that  the  excavation  lasted,  150  of  these  burial  jars 
were  found,  the  majority  of  which  proved  to  be  of  Late  Minoan  I 
date.  Since  no  burials  of  this  period  had  been  hitherto  found, 
the  Sphoungaras  slope  offered  valuable  evidence  as  to  the  method 
of  interment  employed  in  this  epoch.  Another  result  of  the 
excavation  was  the  recovery  of  Minoan  skulls  and  bones  which 
were  so  well  preserved  within  their  protecting  walls  of  clay  that 
twenty  skulls  could  be  saved,  a  few  of  which  were  in  excellent 
condition.  Some  report  of  these  skulls  has  already  been,  made 
by  Mr.  C.  H.  Hawes  in  Report  Brit.  Ass.  Trans.  Sections, 
Sheffield,  iqio;  Report  on  Cretan  Anthropometry,  p.  3. 

The  other  results  of  the  excavation  were  given  over  to  me 
for  publication,  although  the  work  was  under  Mr.  Seager's 
direction;  to  his  experience  and  information  I  have  been  con- 
stantly indebted  in  writing  this  report.  The  objects  found  went 
for  the  most  part  to  the  Candia  Museum;  a  few  specimens  were 
granted  to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Museum  in  the  name 
of  which  the  work  was  carried  on  and  from  which  we  received  a 
grant  of  money.  We  were  fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of 
the  English  architect,  Mr.  F.  G.  Newton,  to  draw  a  plan  of  the 
site. 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE.  45 

THE  SPHOUNGARAS  SLOPE  AND  ITS  DEPOSITS 

The  Sphoungaras  slope,  like  many  other  steep  hillsides  of 
Crete,  had  been  stripped  of  most  of  its  soil.  In  this  process  of 
denudation  the  higher  parts  of  the  hill  had  become  quite  bare 
except  here  and  there  where  the  slipping  soil  had  found  lodgment 
against  a  boulder,  or  just  below  the  cliffs  where  the  overhanging 
rock  protected  the  earth  below.  Near  the  foot  of  the  hill  the 
deposit  of  earth  was  sufficient  to  cover  the  tall  burial  jars, 
although  some  of  these  lay  only  a  few  inches  below  the  surface 
where,  in  view  of  the  centuries  during  which  this  field  had 
undergone  cultivation,  it  seemed  incredible  that  a  plough  had 
not  reached  them.  The  upper  part  of  the  hill  had  suffered  not 
only  from  the  denudation  of  its  soil,  but  also  from  the  falling 
of  boulders  from  the  cliffs,  which  had  seemingly  broken  up 
whatever  pottery  had  not  already  been  washed  down  the  hill. 
The  number  of  potsherds  strewn  about  the  lower  slope  bore 
witness  to  the  extent  of  the  havoc.  Thus,  when  in  the  course 
of  the  excavations  the  upper  part  of  the  slope  was  reached, 
the  deposit  of  earth  together  with  the  ancient  remains  came 
abruptly  to  an  end  and  we  saw  that  the  area  where  the  soil  was 
deep  enough  to  make  excavations  possible  was  confined  to  a 
comparatively  narrow  belt.  There  were  however  these  excep- 
tions: just  outside  the  cave  which  had  been  partially  cleared  by 
Mrs.  Hawes,  was  found  a  considerable  Early  Minoan  deposit 
(B  on  plan,  PI.  XV) ;  at  the  top  of  the  hill  between  the  cliff  and 
some  boulders  (C  on  plan)  were  found  three  pithoi  together  with 
fragments  of  others  and  as  many  as  8  skulls;  lastly,  some  metres 
to  the  south — outside  the  limits  of  the  plan — were  found  broken 
remnants  of  both  Early  and  Late  Minoan  burials,  which  were 
evidently  in  their  original  position  but  had  been  crushed  by 
fallen  rocks. 

The  interments  could  be  divided  into  two  main  classes, 
(i)  burials  in  the  earth  without  pithoi,  the  general  area  of 
which  is  marked  on  the  plan  by  hatched  lines,  and  (2)  burials  in 


46  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


inverted  pithoi  each  indicated  on  the  plan  by  a  circle.  The 
pottery  associated  with  the  former  was  of  Early  Minoan  II  and 
Early  Minoan  III  date,  with  an  admixture  of  Middle  Minoan  I 
fabrics.  The  jars  used  in  the  latter  class  of  burials  were  mostly 
of  the  Middle  Minoan  III  and  Late  Minoan  I  periods  although 
a  few  specimens,  dating  from  the  Middle  Minoan  I  period, 
occurred.  We  have  also  to  mention  a  small  neolithic  deposit 
which  underlay  the  Early  Minoan  remains  at  the  point  marked 


Fig.  20. — Early  Minoan  II  Plates.    Scale  1:7. 


D  on  the  plan.  The  walls  which  were  found  were  practically 
negligible;  only  two  or  three  small  stretches  came  to  light  and 
these  seemed  to  be  the  remains  of  short  retaining  walls  rather 
than  those  of  graves  or  tombs.  The  deposits  will  now  be  de- 
scribed in  chronological  order. 

THE  NEOLITHIC  DEPOSIT 

Ten  metres  south  of  the  rock-shelter,  under  the  Early 
Minoan  deposit  at  the  point  marked  D,  there  came  to  light  a 
layer  of  black  earth  which  was  found  to  contain  a  neolithic  de- 
posit, the  first  which  has  as  yet  appeared  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Hierapetra.  The  position  of  these  remains  so  close  to  a  cave, 
recalls  the  megalithic  house  at  Magasa;1  but  since  in  this  case 

1  See  R.  M.  Dawkins,  B.  S.  A.,  XI  (1904-1905),  p.  263. 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


47 


no  house-walls  were  found,  we  may  suppose  that  a  structure 
of  some  perishable  material,  perhaps  a  wattled  mud  hut,  served 
as  an  extension  to  the  narrow  space  available  within  the  cave 
itself.  No  neolithic  deposit  was  found  in  the  cave  or  immedi- 
ately outside  it  but  this  was  to  be  expected  inasmuch  as  it  had 
been  used  as  a  burial  place  by  the  people  of  the  Early  Minoan 
period  who  would  have  probably  cleared  it  out  to  make  room 
for  their  dead. 

The  objects  found  in  this  deposit  were  chiefly  sherds  of 
coarse  clay  shading  from  brown  to  black  and  containing  particles 
of  white  sand.    Their  outer  surface  was  generally  of  a  brownish 


Fig.  21. — New  Types  of  Early  Minoan  II  Mottled  Ware.    Scale  1:4. 


red  color  and  rudely  finished.  Mr.  Duncan  Mackenzie,  who 
kindly  examined  these  sherds  for  me,  pronounced  them  to 
be  a  late  neolithic  fabric  dating  from  the  very  end  of  the 
stone-age.  Among  these  fragments  was  a  wish  bone  handle  like 
that  found  in  the  megalithic  house  at  Magasa.1 

There  also  occurred  a  worked  bone  like  those  from  Magasa.2 
These  analogies  are  striking,  but  the  pottery  seems  to  show  that 

1  See  R.  M.  Dawkins,  loc.  cit.,  Fig.  3,  c,  and  PI.  VIII,  27-29. 

2  Ibid.,  PI.  VIII,  n-18. 


48  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


our  neolithic  farmstead  is  later  than  the  better  built  one  at 

Magasa. 

EARLY  MINOAN  DEPOSIT  A 
The  first  Early  Minoan  deposit  which  we  have  to  describe 
(marked  A  on  the  plan)  was  on  that  part  of  the  hill  where  digging 
began,  and  extending  as  it  did  over  so  large  an  area  and  yielding 
objects  so  similar  to  those  found  in  the  Early  Minoan  tombs  at 
Mochlos,  there  was  every  indication  that  the  cemetery  was  to 
date  mainly  from  the  Early  Minoan  age  The  deposit  was  from 
one  to  three  feet  deep  and  overlay  hardpan  or  limestone  so 
acted  on  by  the  acids  of  the  soil  as  to  render  it  soft.  There 
was  only  one  piece  of  wall  found  within  this  area.  Just  how  the 
dead  had  been  interred  we  could  not  determine;  the  bones 
which  here  came  to  light  were  so  fragmentary  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  say  whether  they  belonged  to  primary  or  to  secondary 
burials.  They  lay  loose  in  the  earth  beside  the  vases  and  orna- 
ments that  had  been  buried  with  the  dead  and  were  badly  rotted. 
There  were  no  traces  of  cremation.  It  is  probable,  in  view  of 
the  evidence  from  other  Cretan  sites,  that  these  were  primary 
burials  in  "cists  rudely  built  of  small  stones"  like  those  noted 
by  Mr.  Hogarth  in  caves  at  Zakro1  and  by  Mr.  Seager  on 
Pseira,  but  it  is  also  possible  that  larnakes  were  sometimes 
used  in  this  period,  for  among  the  fragments  of  pottery  found 
were  many  heavy  sherds  of  coarse  red  clay  which  came  from 
straight  sided  vessels  like  larnakes. 

By  far  the  most  common  ware  in  this  Early  Minoan  deposit 
was  the  red  and  black  mottled  pottery  usually  known  as  Vasiliki 
(Baa-iXiKij)  ware  after  the  place  where  it  was  first  found.2 
The  mottled  colors  were  still  in  some  instances  fairly  brilliant 
although  in  general  the  soil  of  the  Sphoungaras  hill  had  had  a 
disastrous  effect  upon  the  painted  surface.  A  feature  peculiar 
to  the  specimens  from  the  Sphoungaras  hill  was  that  the  inside 
of  the  vase  was  frequently  a  uniform  black.  Often  the  black 
1 B.  s.  A.,  VII,  p.  143. 

2  See  Seager,  Transactions,  I,  Part  III,  pp.  207-220'. 


EDITH  H.  HALL  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


49 


extended  quite  evenly  over  the  top  of  the  outside  as  if  these 
vases,  like  the  black-topped  ware  from  Egypt,  had  been  placed 
upside  down  in  a  bed  of  coals. 

The  commonest  types  were  egg-cups  of  which  8  appeared 
and  plates  of  which  1 1  were  found  and  8  could  be  restored.  No 
illustrations  of  the  egg-cups  are  given  since  they  correspond 
so  closely  to  those  from  Vasiliki;1  specimens  of  the  plates  are 
shown  in  Fig.  20.    This  shape  has  been  found  at  Zakro2  and  at 


Fig.  22. — Early  Minoan  II  Pottery.    Scale  1:3. 


Vasiliki,3  but  only  a  few  specimens  have  been  hitherto  recovered. 
One  plate  in  Fig.  20  has  waved  lines  painted  in  white  above 
the  mottled  surface — a  method  noted  before4  and  practiced, 
evidently,  at  the  very  end  of  the  Early  Minoan  II  period. 

In  addition  to  egg-cups  and  plates  this  deposit  yielded  other 
familiar  types  of  mottled  ware  such  as  jugs  and  bridge-spouted 
bowls  and  also  several  new  shapes,  which  are  shown  in  Fig.  21. 

15.  S.J.,  VII,  P.  143. 
*  hoc.  cit.,  PI.  XXXIV,  1. 

3  Transactions,  II,  2,  p.  116. 

4  Transactions,  I,  3,  p.  116. 


50  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


The  jug  is  embellished  by  rows  of  punctuated  dots  arranged 
along  the  shoulder  and  from  the  shoulder  to  the  neck. 

Together  with  the  mottled  red  and  black  Vasiliki  ware 
there  also  occurred  in  this  deposit  specimens  of  other  Early 
Minoan  II  fabrics,  shown  in  Fig.  22.    These  were: 

1.  Small  jug  of  coarse  black  clay  with  punctuated  dots 
around  neck  (Fig.  22,  b). 

2.  Tiny  jug  of  same  clay. 

3.  Rimmed  jar  with  foot,  of  similar  clay  (Fig.  22,  d). 

4.  Fragments  of  a  side-spouted  cup  with  a  hatched  design  in 
dark  paint  on  the  buff  ground  of  the  clay.  A  cup  similar  to 
this  was  found  at  Koumasa. 

5.  Fragments  of  a  round  bodied  jug  of  coarse  buff  clay  (Fig. 
22,  g). 

6.  Mug  of  coarse  red  clay  with  heavy  handle  and  spout 
(Fig.  22,  c). 

7.  Clay  lamp  similar  to  one  found  at  Vasiliki  (Fig.  22,  a)} 

8.  " Fruit-stand"  or  cover  (Fig  22,  f).2 

9.  A  curious  vase  with  perforated  sides,  and  handles  in  the 
form  of  animals. 

There  were  also  found  in  this  deposit  the  following  specimens 
of  Early  Minoan  III  ware: 

1.  Round-bodied  cup  with  design  of  spirals  connected  by 
groups  of  lines  (Fig.  23,  e)} 

2.  Straight  sided  cup  with  design  of  festoons  and  dots 
(Fig.  23,  1). 

3.  Round-bodied  cup  with  similar  design. 

4.  Cup,  elliptical  in  section  (Fig.  23,  a).  The  lunettes  and 
dots  in  the  horizontal  band  of  decoration  on  this  cup  did  not 
come  out  even,  apparently,  so  the  potter  cut  one  of  the  lunettes 
in  two  with  three  diagonal  lines. 

1  Transactions,  II,  2,  p.  122,  Fig.  5,  a. 

*  Several  specimens  of  this  class  of  vases  have  been  found  by  Mr.  Seager  at  Mochlos  and  by- 
Mr.  Xanthoudides  at  Koumasa;  the  former  thinks  that  they  were  not  covers  because  no  vases 
which  they  might  fit  have  been  found  with  them;  the  latter  calls  them  covers  because  incised 
decoration  has  been  found  on  the  outside  of  some  specimens. 

5  Cf.  Transactions,  Vol.  I,  Part  III,  p.  200,  and  PI.  XXVII. 


EDITH  H.  HALL  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


51 


5-  Similar  cup  also  elliptical  in  section.  Here  the  potter 
introduced  a  hatched  triangle  to  make  his  design  come  out 
even  (Fig.  23,  c). 

6.  Beaked  jug,  covered  almost  entirely  with  a  black  paint 
on  which  are  horizontal  bands  of  white  and  between  them  dotted 
triangles  and  festoons  (Fig.  23,/). 

7.  Similar  jug  with  diagonal  lines  of  white  and  hatched 
triangles  on  a  dark  paint  ground  (Fig.  23,  d). 


Fig.  23. — Early  Minoan  III  Cups  and  Jugs.    Scale  1:3. 


The  stone  objects  which  were  found  in  this  deposit  are 
as  follows: 

1.  Breccia  bowl  (4  cm.  high;  6  cm.  diam.),  found  with 
fragments  of  a  larnax  and  a  few  scanty  remnants  of  bones  on 
the  very  outskirts  of  this  deposit  at  a  point  marked  E  on  the 
plan. 

2.  Green  steatite  bowl  with  handle  (2  cm.  high;  5.1  cm. 
diam.),  found  in  a  mixed  deposit  containing  both  Middle  Minoan 
I  and  Early  Minoan  III  pottery. 


52 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL   PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


3.  Small  translucent  green  soapstone  lid  with  four  perfo- 
rations (.046  m.  diam.). 

4.  Stone  arrow-head. 

5.  Heavy  stone  rings  evidently  used  as  weights. 

The  soapstone  lid  and  the  arrow-head  lay  close  together 
beside  fragments  of  Early  Minoan  II  plates,  which  fixes  their 

date  as  Early  Minoan  II — a  date  already  practic- 
ally certain  since  Mr.  Seager's  discovery  of  stone 
vases  in  Early  Minoan  II  tombs  on  Mochlos. 

In  these  Mochlos  tombs  such  delicate  little 
stone  vases  were  associated  with  beautiful  gold- 
work  which  rivals  in  technical  perfection  the 
finest  jewelry  of  fifth  century  goldsmiths.  The 
Sphoungaras  cemetery  did  not  yield  such  abund- 
ance of  gold  objects  as  was  found  in  the  Moch- 
los tombs,  but  two  pendant  chains,  one  of  which 
is  shown  in  Fig.  24,  surpass  in  delicacy  the  finest 
specimens  from  the  Mochlos  gold  treasure. 
The  chains  are  double  linked  and  exquisitely 
wrought;  the  heart-shaped  ornaments  at  the  end 
are  of  thin  gold-leaf.  These  pendants  lay  quite 
close  to  sherds  of  Early  Minoan  II  red  and 
black  mottled  ware.  The  other  gold  objects  from  this  deposit 
are  also  shown  in  Fig.  24;  they  are  the  gold  ring  already  re- 
ferred to  and  a  gold  bead. 

Other  objects  of  importance  from  this  area  were  the 
following: 

1.  Ivory  seal  (Fig.  25,  a)  roughly  hemispherical  and  crudely 
modelled  in  the  form  of  a  bird's  head.  The  hole  for  suspension 
passes  from  the  top  through  the  beak.  The  sealing  surface 
shows,  in  intaglio,  the  figure  of  a  man  standing  between  a  four- 
legged  animal  and  a  snake  (?).  Similarly  shaped  seals  have 
been  found  at  Koumasa1  and  at  Agia  Triada.2    The  design  on 


Fig.  24.  —  Gold 
Objects  from  Early 
Minoan  Deposit  A. 
Scale  2:3. 


1  Unpublished. 

2  Unpublished.    Here  the  seal  is  in  the  shape  of  a  horse's  head. 


EDITH  H.  HALL  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


53 


the  sealing  surface  must  be  regarded  as  the  prototype  of  those 
representations  of  goddesses  standing  between  animals  or  birds 
heraldically  placed,  which  are  so  charac- 
teristic of  Cretan  culture. 

2.  Ivory  seal  with  curved  top  and 
geometric  design  on  the  sealing  surface 
(Fig.  25,  b). 

This  seal  is  similar  to  one  from  a 
house  on  Mochlos.1  It  may  be  compared, 
also,  to  two  unpublished  seals  from  Agia 
Triada  (Nos.  463  and  438  in  the  Candia 
Museum  Catalog),  and  to  a  seal  published 
in  Mem.  R.  1st.  Lomb.,  1904,  Vol.  XXI, 
Tav.  X. 

3.  Small  ivory  spindle  whorl. 

4.  Ivory  idol  (head  missing)  like 
those  from  Koumasa  and  one  from  Agia 
Triada  published  in  Mem.  R.  1st.  Lomb., 
1904,  Vol.  XXI,  Tav.  XI,  lower  row,  sec- 
ond from  the  right  end. 

5.  Bronze  tweezers  or  snuffers  (Fig.  26). 

6.  Triton  shells. 


Fig.  25. — Early  Minoan  II 
Ivory  Seals.    Scale  2:3. 


Fig.  26. — Bronze  Tweezers  from  Early  Minoan  Deposit  A.    Scale  2:3. 

EARLY  MINOAN  DEPOSIT  B 

The  other  Early  Minoan  deposit  on  the  Sphoungaras  hill  began 
at  a  point  one  metre  from  the  opening  of  the  rock-shelter  and  ex- 
tended west  along  the  cliff  and  then  south  over  the  small  neolithic 
stratum  described  on  p.  46.  A  part  of  this  area  had  been  already 
explored  by  Mrs.  Hawes  and  had  yielded  a  number  of  vases.4 

1  A.  J.  A.,  XIII  (1909),  p.  280. 

2  See  Transactions,  Vol.  I,  Part  III,  p.  179  f.,  and  Gournia,  p.  56.  The  vases  here  pub- 
lished must  now,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  excavations,  be  regarded  as  Early  Minoan  II,  not 
as  Early  Minoan  I. 


54  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


The  pottery  from  this  deposit  is  shown  in  Fig.  27  and  is  as 
follows : 

1.  Bird-shaped  vase  (Fig.  27,  g). 

2.  Three-legged  lamp  (Fig.  27,/). 

3.  Later  Middle  Minoan  III  or  Late  Minoan  I  lamp,  which 
must  have  worked  down  from  a  higher  level  (Fig.  27,  h). 

4.  Small  " flower-pot"  of  coarse  black  clay  (Fig.  27,  e). 


D  H 

Fig.  27. — Early  Minoan  II  Pottery  from  Deposit  B.    Scale  3:4. 


5.  Four  clay  polishers  probably  used  for  finishing  the 
surface  of  vases  (Fig.  27,  a,  b,  c,  d). 

6.  Large  red  and  black  mottled  schnabelkanne,  36  cm.  high. 

7.  Three  side-spouted  " flower-pots"  found  with  the  schnab- 
elkanne just  outside  the  mouth  of  the  cave. 

Two  small  green  soapstone  vases  were  also  found  in  this 
deposit,  a  bowl  2.5  cm.  high  and  a  little  dish  barely  2  cm.  high 
with  three  handles  and  a  spout.  A  bowl  of  black  steatite  of  a 
type  associated  with  a  later  period  of  stone-cutting  was  also 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


55 


found  in  this  deposit,  having  in  all  probability  worked  its  way 
down  from  a  higher  level. 

All  along  the  margins  of  these  Early  Minoan  deposits  and 
indeed  sometimes  quite  within  their  limits  occurred  traces  of 
Middle  Minoan  III  and  Late  Minoan  I  burials  in  inverted  jars. 


G  H 

Fig.  28. — Middle  Minoan  I  Vases.    Scale  1:5. 


Where  such  later  interments  were  numerous  the  earlier  deposits 
ceased  to  appear.  It  seems  accordingly  possible  that  the  entire 
slope  had  been  used  as  a  burial  place  in  Early  Minoan  times  and 
that  many  of  these  earlier  graves  had  been  removed  by  later 
inhabitants  to  make  room  for  their  own  dead.  It  is  also  possible 
that  the  earlier  graves  had  been  plundered  by  later  generations 
and  that  fine  goldwork  like  the  pendant  of  Fig.  24  had  thus 
disappeared.  And  if  we  are  to  suppose  a  rich  and  extensive 
cemetery  on  the  hillside  of  Sphoungaras  we  must  also  suppose  an 
extensive  settlement  in  the  town  of  Gournia.  This  is  indeed  the 
most  important  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  these  early  burials, 
viz.  that  the  town  of  Gournia  was  a  large  and  prosperous  com- 
munity in  the  Early  Minoan  II  period. 


56  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


A  GROUP  OF  MIDDLE  MINOAN  I  VASES 

Before  describing  the  later  pithos-burials,  mention  should 
be  made  of  a  group  of  Middle  Minoan  I  vases  which  could  not  be 
assigned  either  to  these  later  burials  in  jars  or  to  the  older 
Early  Minoan  interments.  They  lay  for  the  most  part  along  the 
northern  confines  of  the  early  deposit  A  in  an  area  marked  F  on 
plan,  where  the  two  types  of  burial — the  earlier  in  graves  and  the 
later  in  jars — were  mixed.  Some  specimens  in  the  following 
list  lay  close  to  Early  Minoan  vases;  other  were  adjacent  to 
pithos-burials.  Now  we  shall  soon  see  that  a  few  of  the  earliest 
burials  in  jars  are  to  be  assigned  to  the  Middle  Minoan  I  period. 
It  is  thus  possible  that  these  Middle  Minoan  I  cups  and  jugs 
were  buried  along  with  the  pithoi  containing  the  dead.  But  it 
is  equally  possible  that  these  vases  had  been  interred  in  graves, 
for  pottery  of  the  Middle  Minoan  I  period  was  found  in  cist 
graves  on  Pseira,  adjacent  to  burials  in  jars. 

These  Middle  Minoan  I  vases  are  as  follows: 

1.  Two-handled  side-spouted  cup  of  hand-polished  buff 
clay  (Fig.  28,  d).  The  similarity  of  this  ware  to  the  buff  hand- 
polished  ware  of  the  Early  Minoan  II  period  has  been  pointed 
out  by  Mr.  Seager.1  Only  by  the  shape  may  these  undecorated 
wares  of  the  two  periods  be  distinguished.  This  vase  was  found 
close  to  the  red  and  black  jug  of  Fig.  21  and  also  to  the  Middle 
Minoan  I  jar  of  Fig.  31. 

2.  Squat  vase  with  two  small  side-handles  and  large  side- 
spout  (Fig.  28,/).  Traces  of  circles  of  red  paint  are  visible  on 
the  shoulder,  and  lines  of  the  same  on  the  neck.  For  this 
reason  the  vase  is  assigned  to  the  Middle  Minoan  I  period;  on 
other  grounds  it  might  well  be  called  Early  Minoan  II.  This 
vase  was  from  a  mixed  deposit  containing  both  red  and  black 
egg-cups  and  Middle  Minoan  I  cups  and  jugs. 

3.  Painted  bowl  with  central  ornament  in  the  form  of  a 
flower.    (Fig.  29.)    The  body-paint  varies  from  brown  to  black. 

1  See  Explorations  in  the  Island  of  Mochlos,  p.  8. 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


57 


On  this  background  are  painted  both  inside  and  out  red  and 
white  festoons  interspersed  with  white  quirks.  The  petals  of  the 
flower  are  painted  white  with  red  dividing  lines.  This  vase 
was  found  together  with  red  and  black  egg-cups  as  well  as 
fragments  of  other  Middle  Minoan  I  cups.  Comparable  cups  with 
modelled  ornaments  inside  were  found  at  Palaikastro;  in  B.  S.A., 
IX,  1902-1903,  p.  302,  Fig.  I,  5<3,  a  specimen  is  shown  where  the 
central  ornament  is  a  dog.  In  other  cups  the  central  ornaments 
were  birds,  but  no  flowers  were  noted. 


Fig.  29. — Middle  Minoan  1  Bowl.    Scale  2:3. 


4.  Tall  straight  sided  cup,  in  shape  like  Middle  Minoan  II 
and  Late  Minoan  I  cups.  Its  painted  surface  varies  from 
brown  to  black,  a  possible  reminiscence  of  the  mottled  red  and 
black  Early  Minoan  II  style  (Fig.  28,  g).  Similar  cups  were 
found  at  Vasiliki  in  Middle  Minoan  I  context. 

5.  Three  round-bodied  cups  of  buff  clay  with  lines  of  dark 
paint  on  rim  and  handle  (Fig.  28,  <z,  b  and  e). 

6.  More  advanced  shape,  entirely  covered  with  black  paint 
(Fig.  28,  c). 

7.  Rim-handled  bowl  of  buff  clay  (Fig.  28,  A). 

In  addition  to  these  cups  and  bowls,  a  quantity  of  Middle 
Minoan  I  jugs  came  to  light  (Figs.  30  and  31).  They  came 
from  a  comparatively  small  area  adjacent  to  the  area  of  pithos- 
burials.  In  the  one  case  where  stratification  was  observable, 
they  lay  above  the  Early  Minoan  III  cups  of  Fig.  23.   They  need 


1 


58  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


no  special  comment  except  perhaps  b  and  g,  which  are  miniature 
examples  of  a  type  of  painted  jug  very  typical  of  this  period. 
Both  these  painted  patterns,  the  " plume"  decoration  and  the 
circular  patches  of  dark  paint  connected  by  slanting  lines  were 
thought  by  Mrs.  Hawes  to  be  characteristic  of  Middle  Minoan 


A  B  C  D  E  F 


n  n  o  p 


Fig.  30. — Middle  Minoan  I  Jugs.    Scale  1 : 4. 


Ill  ceramic  art.1  Subsequent  excavations  at  Vasiliki  revealed 
some  specimens  with  this  decoration  in  Middle  Minoan  I 
deposits2  and  later  discoveries  on  Pseira3  definitely  established 
the  fact  that  vases  with  these  two  types  of  decoration  belonged 
not  to  the  Middle  Minoan  III  but  to  the  Middle  Minoan  I 
period. 

THE  PITHOS-BURIALS 
A  glance  at  the  plan  will  show  over  how  wide  an  area  the 
pithos-burials  extended.    The  circles  indicate,  however,  only 

1  See  Gournia,  pp.  38  and  60,  and  Pis.  D  and  VI,  29  and  42. 

2  See  Transactions,  Vol.  II,  Part  II,  p.  128. 

3  See  Pseira,  Anthropological  Publications  of  the  Univ.  of  Penna.,  Ill,  No.  1,  p.  19. 


EDITH  H.  HALL  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


59 


those  pithoi  which  were  either  whole  or  could  be  restored. 
Inasmuch  as  the  entire  hill  was  strewn  with  fragments  of  heavy 
jars,  we  must  conclude  that  the  original  number  was  far  greater. 
Some  thirty  of  the  hundred  and  fifty  found,  those  which  had 
painted  decoration  and  the  unpainted  ones  which  were  in  good 
condition,  were  taken  to  the  excavation  house;  the  rest  were 
buried  again  in  the  trial  trenches. 

Without  exception  the  burial-jars  were  placed  upside  down 
(Plates  XI  and  XII).  They  were  inserted  neither  at  regular  in- 
tervals nor  at  a  uniform  depth.  They  must  have  been  entirely 
covered  by  earth,  for  sometimes  a  large  flat  stone  had  been  laid 
above  them  as  if  for  additional  protection  and  such  stones  would 
never  have  stayed  in  place  had  they  not  been  held  in  position  by 
earth.  The  soil  between  and  below  the  j  ars  was  generally  filled  with 


Fig.  31. — Middle  Minoan  I  Jar.    Scale  2:3. 

beach  pebbles  and  where  the  pithoi  stood  close  together,  larger 
stones  appeared,  which  had  served  as  wedges  to  keep  them  in  place. 
Sometimes  covers  were  found  underneath  the  jars  but  this  was 
not  the  rule,  it  evidently  being  held  preferable  that  the  mouth 
of  the  jar  should  be  left  open.  A  cleaner  method  of  burial  could 
scarcely  be  devised;  the  body  came  into  contact  only  with  the 
clay  of  the  inclosing  jar  or  with  the  beach  pebbles  below  it  and 


()0  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 

as  the  centuries  passed  the  pithos,  if  it  remained  unbroken, 
kept  out  the  inflltering  earth  much  more  effectually  than  a 
grave  lined  with  slabs  would  have  done.  In  fact,  inside  the  un- 
broken pithoi  only  a  handful  of  earth  appeared  —  doubtless  the 
dust  to  which  the  body  had  crumbled. 

In  one  instance  (see  G  on  plan,  PI.  XV)  a  pithos  was  found 
within  another  pithos. 

There  should  also  be  recorded  the  fact  that  among  the  pithoi 
was  found  a  larnax  (H  on  plan).  It  measured  87X44  centi- 
metres and  was  54  centimetres  high.  It  was  without  ornament, 
but  its  date  must  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  Middle  Minoan  III 
or  Later  Minoan  I  pithoi  in  the  midst  of  which  it  was  interred. 


Fig.  32. — Middle  Minoan  I  Burial-jar.    Scale  1:8. 

The  size  and  shape  of  the  pithoi  differed  widely.  Small  jars 
were  used  for  children,  larger  ones  for  adults.  In  some  cases  the 
jars  were  of  familiar  domestic  types;  in  fact  it  looked  as  if  worn  jars 
had  been  taken  from  the  household  stock  and  used  for  burials, 
for  in  several  cases  the  rims  were  broken  and  the  missing  pieces 
were  not  to  be  found  in  the  vicinity.  Often,  however,  they  were 
of  a  type  which  seems  to  have  been  made  particularly  for  burials. 
Such  jars  as  those  in  Fig.  35  with  their  small  bases  and  awkwardly 
bulging  sides  would  have  been  both  unstable  and  ugly  as  articles 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


61 


of  household  furniture,  whereas  they  were  admirably  adapted 
for  burials. 

It  was  at  first  thought  that  these  jar-interments  were 
perhaps  secondary  burials,  that  the  bones  had  been  inserted  in 
the  jars  after  they  had  been  cleared  of  flesh.  But  this  was  not 
the  case.  Several  jars  had  become  cracked  around  their  bases 
(i.  e.  their  tops  in  the  position  in  which  they  were  found)  and 
thus  by  lifting  off  the  upper  part  we  could  note  the  position  of 
the  bones  before  they  had  been  disturbed  by  the  removal  of  the 
iar     In  several  instances  the  bones  of  all  five  fingers  were  ob- 


Fig.  33. — Middle  Minoan  III  Burial-jar.    Scale  1:7. 

served  exactly  in  their  correct  order,  and  again  the  rib-bones 
appeared  in  their  proper  position.  In  two  cases  the  leg-bones 
were  still  upright  as  they  had  been  originally  when  the  body 
was  inserted  with  the  legs  doubled  up  and  the  knees  brought  close 
to  the  chin  (PI.  XIV).  To  prove  beyond  doubt  that  primary 
burials  were  possible  in  these  jars,  we  tried  putting  a  pithos  with 
a  broken  base  over  the  head  of  one  of  our  workmen  after  we  had 
seated  him  in  the  position  indicated  by  the  bones,  and  found 


62  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


that  the  space  was  ample.  It  seems  probable  that  the  corpses 
were  trussed  in  this  sitting  posture  before  insertion  in  the  jars, 
unless,  indeed,  we  are  to  believe  that  the  Cretans,  like  the 
Libyan  tribe  of  which  Herodotus  writes,1  did  not  wait  for  the 
actual  arrival  of  death  but  as  their  sick  were  expiring,  forced  them 
into  a  sitting  position. 

The  height  of  the  jars  varied  from  32  to  94  centimetres. 
By  far  the  greater  part  were  undecorated,  and  of  those  which 


Fig.  34. — Middle  Minoan  Burial-jar.    Scale  1 :  6. 


were  ornamented  with  painted  designs,  many  could  boast  of 
nothing  more  than  the  drip  pattern,  a  kind  of  decoration  secured 
by  pouring  paint  over  the  jar  and  letting  it  trickle  down  its 

1  Herodotus  IV,  190. 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


63 


sides.  This  type  of  decoration  begins  in  the  Early  Minoan  II 
period  but  is  also  frequent  in  the  Middle  Minoan  III  and  Late 
Minoan  I  periods. 

There  were  however  enough  jars  which  were  ornamented 
with  well  known  patterns  to  fix  with  a  fair  degree  of  certainty 


Fig.  35. — Middle  Minoan  III  Burial-jar.    Scale  1:6. 

the  date  of  these  pithoi-burials.  The  earliest  specimens, 
decorated  with  curving  lines  and  circular  patches  of  dark  paint, 
date  from  the  Middle  Minoan  I  period.  Many  fragments  of 
such  jars  came  to  light.  One  small  specimen  was  undamaged 
(Fig.  32)  and  a  large  one,  though  broken,  could  be  put  together, 
which  was  of  importance  for  establishing  the  fact  that  adults  as 
well  as  children  were  buried  in  jars  in  the  Middle  Minoan  I 
period. 


64  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


Four  pithoi  were  painted  in  the  style  typical  of  the  Middle 
Minoan  III  period,  i.  e.,  with  designs  in  powdery  white  upon 
a  purplish  ground.  The  first  (Fig.  33)  is  a  sturdy  vessel  of 
unusual  type.  Its  painted  ornament  is  confined  to  three  bands 
of  white  about  the  middle  of  the  vase  and  four  ornaments  on  the 
shoulder  between  the  four  handles.  These  ornaments  consist 
of  spirals,  of  leaf-like  curls  adjoining  them,  and  of  barred  lobes 
between  the  spirals  and  the  curls.  This  central  ornament  closely 
resembles  the  barred  lobes  on  a  jar  from  Zakro1  and  the  design 
as  a  whole  resembles  that  in  superadded  white  on  a  beautiful 
jar  from  Pseira.2 

Such  similarities  between  the  ornaments  of  the  Middle 
Minoan  III  and  the  Late  Minoan  I  periods  indicate  that  no 
great  time  elapsed  between  the  two.  Indeed  there  is  good 
evidence  to  suppose  that  the  light  on  dark  technique  assigned 
to  the  Middle  Minoan  III  period  is  synchronous  with  the  earlier 
of  the  fabrics  generally  assigned  to  Late  Minoan  I  potters.3  A 
further  observation  suggested  by  this  painted  ornament  is  that 
the  tendency  here  evinced  by  the  potter  to  fill  the  space  between 
two  spreading  curves  with  a  flower  or  bud  is  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  tendencies  not  only  of  later  Minoan  art,4  but  also 
of  Ionian  vase-painting.  Messrs.  J.  H.  Hopkinson  and  John  ff. 
Baker-Penroyne  have  pointed  out  the  resemblance  between 
such  flower  and  spiral  combinations  on  vases  from  Phylakopi 
and  on  later  "Melian"  amphorae.5  The  same  similarity  exists 
between  M  ddle  Minoan  III  designs  and  those  on  "Melian" 
amphorae,  Klazomenai  sarcophagi  and  "Fikellura"  ware. 

The  other  Middle  Minoan  III  pithoi  are  alike  n  shape 
except  that  the  foot  of  one  is  more  slender.  They  all  have 
grooves  below  the  rim  which  would  have  he  d  a  rope  in  place, 

1  /.  //.  S.,  1903,  Vol.  23,  p.  253,  Fig.  18. 

2  University  of  Pennsylvania,  The  Museum,  Anthropological  Publications,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  I, 
Excavations  on  the  Island  of  Pseira,  Pi.  VII. 

•  Cf.  R.  M.  Dawkins  in  B.  S.  A. 

4  Cf.  the  Late  Minoan  III  designs  in  Figs.  64-66  in  Hall,  Decorative  Art  of  Crete  in  the  Bronze 
Age,  p.  43- 

«  See  /.  //.  S.,  XXII  (1902),  p.  66. 


EDITH  H.  HALL  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


65 


had  occasion  arisen  of  lifting  these  jars  with  ropes,  and  most  of 
them  have  also  projecting  rims  around  the  base  by  which  they 
could  be  gripped.  The  decoration  of  two  of  these  jars  is  shown 
in  Figs.  34  and  35.  Among  the  decorative  motives  of  the  fourth 
jar,  which  is  not  shown,  is  the  foliate  pattern  which  occurs  on  the 


Fig.  36. — Unpainted  Burial-jars  of  Typical  Shapes.    Scale  1:14. 

shoulder  of  the  jar  in  Fig.  n,  p.  30,  of  the  preceding  report  on 
Pseira.  It  is  a  pattern  particularly  characteristic  of  the  later 
"Palace  Style." 

It  seems  strange  that  jars  with  such  perishable  decoration 
in  fugitive  white  should  have  been  used  for  insertion  in  the 
ground.  Yet  we  can  imagine  that  these  delicate  patterns  would 
have  shown  up  well  in  a  funeral  procession  and  that  the  beauty 
of  the  vase  would  have  been  a  source  of  pride  to  a  prosperous 
citizen  of  Gournia. 

The  Late  Minoan  I  pithoi  which  bore  painted  decorations 
were  two  in  number.  The  one  with  a  slender  base  may  be 
compared  to  the  jars  in  Gournia,  PL  K,  and  to  preceding  report 
on  Pseira,  p.  33,  Fig.  14.    The  decoration  of  this  jar  consists 


66  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


of  zone  above  zone  of  spirals  or  wheels  interspersed  with  small 
rosettes,  all  painted  in  the  manner  typical  of  the  Late  Minoan  I 
period  (Fig.  37).    The  decoration  of  the  other  jar  is  a  kind 


Fig.  37. — Late  Minoan  I  Burial-jar.    Scale  1:12. 

frequently  found  on  the  pottery  from  Gournia1  and  consists  of 
small  circles  of  dark  paint  upon  a  dotted  background. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  men  who  were  buried  in  these 
pithoi  were  richly  equipped  for  their  journey  to  the  realms  of 
the  dead.    It  was  hoped  that  the  jars  might  yield  many  small 

ornaments  comparable  in  number  and 
beauty  to  the  small  objects  which  were 
buried  with  earlier  generations  at  Moch- 
los,  and  in  this  hope  every  bit  of  earth 
from  the  pithoi  was  carefully  examined, 
but  it  was  only  occasionally  that  the 
search  was  rewarded.  From  the  total 
number  of  150  pithoi  found  only  15 
proved  to  contain  anything  else  beside 
the  skeleton.  Almost  no  pottery,  e.  g., 
was  found,  the  only  exception  of  note 
being  the  vase  of  Fig.  38.    It  was  quite  usual  to  find  deposits  of 

*Cf.  Gournia,  PI.  VII,  40. 


Fig  38— Vase  Found  Inside 
Burial-jar.   Scale  1 :  3. 


EDITH  H.  HALL  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE* 


67 


pottery  adjacent  to  the  pithoi  but  since  the  favorite  offerings  to 
the  dead  had  been  fragile  cups,  there  was  nothing  left  but  hope- 
lessly broken  fragments.  As  many  as  ten  baskets  of  small  cup- 
fragments  were  recovered.  They  were  mostly  of  two  types, 
shown  in  Gournia,  PI.  VI,  5  and  36,  and  were  decorated  with  spirals 
or  fern  patterns  painted  in  white  or  more  rarely  in  red  on  a 
ground-paint  which  was  sometimes  reddish,  and  sometimes 
brown  or  black.  These  cups,  as  said  above,  are  equally  charac- 
teristic of  the  Middle  Minoan  III  and  of  the  Late  Minoan  I 
period.  The  only  other  piece  of  pottery  to  be  recorded  was  a 
lid  painted  with  marguerites  (Fig.  39).  It  was  found  underneath 
one  of  the  burial  jars. 

Beads  were  the  objects  which  most  frequently  occurred 


FlG.  39. — Lid  Found  Beneath  Burial-jar.    Scale  1 :  3. 

within  the  pithoi.  They  were  often  of  clay  and  of  the  simplest 
types.  Occasionally  they  were  of  bronze,  steatite  (see  Fig.  40,  a), 
or  of  blue  porcelain.  In  one  case  they  were  found  adhering  to 
the  skull. 

Bronze  objects  were  not  uncommon.  The  largest  was  an 
axe-head  in  the  socket-hole  of  which  a  piece  of  wood  still  re- 


68  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


mained  (Fig.  41).  It  must  have  been  a  votive  or  symbolical 
axe  for  both  the  axe-head  itself  and  the  wooden  handle  are  too 
slender  for  practical  use.  Perhaps  it  had  prophylactic  value; 
we  know  that  single  axe-heads  shared  the  sacred  character  of  the 
more  common  type  of  double  axe.  The  bronze  hairpin  of  Fig. 
42  was  found  in  the  same  pithos  as  the  carnelian  seal  of  Fig.  45,  d. 


Fig.  40. — Clay  Seals  and  Steatite  Fig.  41. — Bronze  Axe-head  Found  Inside 

Beads.    Scale  2:3.  Burial-jar.    Scale  1:2. 

That  bronze  was  highly  enough  prized  to  be  used  for  jewelry  is 
shown  not  only  by  bronze  beads  but  also  by  three  bronze  rings. 
Two  of  these  have  plain  bronze  bezels  (Fig.  43,  a);  like  the 
Early  Minoan  gold  ring  they  are  of  very  small  dimensions  (diam. 
1  cm.)  so  that  they  must  have  been  worn  either  on  the  little 
finger  of  a  child's  hand  or  on  the  last  joint  of  an  adult's  little 


Fig.  42. — Bronze  Pin  Found  Inside  Burial-jar.    Scale  1:2. 

finger;  or  perhaps  they  were  suspended  from  a  necklace.  The 
third  bronze  ring  (Fig.  43,  b)  had  a  crystal  bezel,  which  had 
fallen  from  its  setting  and  had  worked  its  way  several  centimetres 
th  rough  the  soil.    The  decoration  is  very  simple  and  consists  of 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


69 


a  barred  triangle  and  lines.  This  ring  furnishes  the  only- 
instance,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  a  sealstone  set  in  a  ring.  In  the 
same  jar  with  the  bronze  ring  appeared  a  heavy  lead  ring,  the 
bezel  of  which  is  decorated  with  the  figure  of  a  woman  (Fig.  44). 

The  most  interesting  objects  found  in  the  pithoi  were 
sealstones,  not  because  they  presented  new  or  rare  types,  but 
because,  being  found  in  jars  that  were  known  to  be  of  the  Middle 
Minoan  III  or  of  the  Late  Minoan  I  period,  their  date  could  be 
fixed  with  a  fair  degree  of  certainty.  Had  they  not  been  in  this 
earlier  context  they  would  have  been  probably 
assigned,  on  the  ground  of  their  conventional 
types,  to  the  Late  Minoan  II  or  to  the  Late  Min- 
oan III  period.  It  now  appears,  however,  that 
some  of  the  hackneyed  types  like  that  of  the 
squid  were  already  in  use,  were,  indeed,  conven- 
tionalized, and  carelessly  rendered  as  early  as 
the  Middle  Minoan  III  or  at  any  rate  the  Late 
Minoan  I  period. 

These  sealstones  are  as  follows : 

a.  Small  red  carnelian  seal  with  the  repre- 
sentation of  a  door  or  perhaps  the  facade  of  a 
temple  on  either  side  of  which  is  a  tree.    This  seal  may  be 
compared  with  the  seal  in  9E<£.  'Apx-,  1907,  ttiv.  7,  No.  47a 

(Fig.  45,  g)> 

b.  Large  red  carnelian  seal  with  design  of  vase  and  plants 
Compare  loc.  cit.,  ttiv.  7,  No.  47,  /3  and  y  (Fig.  45,/). 

c.  Rock  crystal  lentoid  seal  with  geometric  de- 
sign.   (Fig.  45,  h). 

d.  Amethyst  amydgaloid  seal  with  squid  orna- 
Fig.  44.— Lead  ment         45'        For  smiilar  representations  of  a 

Ring  Found  in-  squid  compare  loc.  cit.,  ttiv.  7,  Nos.  51  and  81. 

side  Burial-jar-         6m  Red  carnelian  lentoid  seal  with  design  in 

Scale  2:3.       the  form  of  a  conVentionalized  vase  (Fig.  45,  d). 

f.  Red  carnelian  amygdaloid  seal  with  squid  ornament  more 
conventionalized  than  in  d  (Fig.  45,  e). 


Fig.  43. — Bronze 
Rings  from  Burial- 
jars.    Scale  2:3. 


70 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


g.  Small  amethyst  seal  in  shape  of  a  flattened  cylinder  with 
heart-shaped  design,  and  on  the  reverse  pictographic  (?)  signs 

(Fig.  45,  a). 

h.  Small  amethyst  lentoid  seal  with  a  fish,  sea-urchin,  and 
other  marine  devices  (Fig.  45,  b).  Cf.  loc.  cit.,  ttiv.  7,  No.  94 
(Fig.  29,  a). 

There  were  also  found  two  clay  seals;  the  one  lay  adjacent 
to  a  pithos  burial,  the  other  (Fig.  40,  c),  like  the  Middle  Minoan 
I  pottery  on  the  confines  of  the  Early  Minoan  I  deposit  A,  in  a 
region  where  the  Early  Minoan  interments  and  the  later  pithos 
burials  were  confused.  Its  date  therefore  is  not  fixed,  but  the 
graceful  design  of  a  whorl  of  fishes  certainly  seems  older  than 
the  Late  Minoan  period. 

These  sealstones,  then,  do  not  help  to  date  their  context 
but  on  the  contrary  they  all,  with  the  exception  of  the  clay  seal 


E.  F  C  H 

Fig.  45. — Sealstones  Found  Inside  Burial-jars.    Scale  i:  I. 


last  mentioned,  may  be  said  to  be  dated  by  it.  The  other 
objects,  however,  found  within  the  jars  and  the  pottery  adjacent 
to  them  confirm  the  evidence  which  was  derived  from  the  patterns 
on  the  pithoi  themselves  and  which  went  to  show  that  these 
burials  belong  to  the  Middle  Minoan  I,  the  Middle  Minoan  III, 
and  the  Late  Minoan  I  periods. 

Sporadic  instances  of  squat  burials  in  jars  have  occurred 
before  in  Crete.  At  Knossos  a  child  burial  was  found  in  an 
inverted  Middle  Minoan  III  jar  and  at  Pseira  child  burials  were 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


71 


found  in  both  Middle  Minoan  I  and  Middle  Minoan  III  jars. 
At  Vrokastro  also,  were  found  this  year  two  child  burials  in  jars 
— not  inverted — adjacent  to  house  walls.  Such  sporadic  cases 
are  of  great  value  in  helping  to  modify  the  discrepancy  between 
the  jar  burials  of  the  Sphoungaras  cemetery  and  the  widely 
divergent  methods  of  other  Cretan  cemeteries,  for  they  indicate 
that  in  more  than  one  place  and  at  more  than  one  time  was  it 
the  custom  to  bury  children  in  jars.  A  possible  hypothesis  is 
that  in  no  period  of  Cretan  culture  was  it  foreign  to  Minoan 
custom  to  bury  the  children  in  jars,  but  that  in  the  three  periods 
specified  the  practice  was  extended  to  adults  as  well  as  to  chil- 
dren. Another  possible  hypothesis  is  that  the  poor  only  buried 
the  dead  in  jars.  This  is  the  custom  in  some  districts  of  China 
today;  the  poorer  people  for  the  purpose  of  economizing  space, 
squeeze  the  bodies  of  their  dead  into  jars.  The  citizens  of 
Gournia,  however,  seem  too  prosperous  to  warrant  such  an 
explanation.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  a  certain  amount  of  con- 
servatism would  be  expected  in  regard  to  burying  the  dead,  the 
truth  seems  to  be  that  the  Cretans  of  the  Bronze  Age  experi- 
mented a  good  deal  in  this  matter.  The  following  table  (p.  73) 
shows  the  different  kind  of  burials  found  up  to  date  in  Crete;  in 
some  cases  the  cemeteries  are  on  steep  hillsides  like  Sphoungaras 
where  tunnels  were  driven  almost  horizontally  into  the  hill,  in 
other  cases,  like  the  long  narrow  burial  rooms  of  Palaikastro 
they  are  on  nearly  level  ground. 

The  occasional  appearance  of  this  crude  method  of  burial 
side  by  side  with  other  more  civilized  practices  is  not  an  isolated 
phenomenon.  In  Egypt  the  custom  of  "  interment  under  pots 
appears  in  upper  Egypt  at  the  close  of  the  predynastic  period 
and  is  uniformly  continuous  through  the  early  dynasties  to  the 
advent  of  the  Fourth.  It  is  associated  with  other  early  modes  of 
burial.  As  a  practice  it  is  not  common  but  constant;  nor  is  it 
demonstrably  representative  of  poorer  or  richer  people  or  of  a 
differing  element  of  race."1 

1  Garstang,  Tombs  of  the  Third  Egyptian  Dynasty  at  Reqdqnah  and  Bet  Khalldf,  1904, 
pp.  50-57. 


72 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PUB.  UNIV.  OF  PA.  MUSEUM,  VOL.  III. 


A  similar  phenomenon  moreover  existed  in  all  probability 
in  Greek  lands.  At  five  sites — Thorikos,  Aphidna,  Aigina, 
Tiryns.  and  Arkesine  on  Amorgos — jar  burials  have  been  found 
which  in  the  opinion  of  their  excavators  date  from  the  "premy- 
cenaean"  period.1 

In  the  absence  of  full  publications  of  the  pottery  found  with 
these  burials,  their  date  remains  somewhat  uncertain  but  it 
seems  probable  that  during  the  early  bronze  age,  jars  instead  of 
graves  were  occasionally  used  for  burying  the  dead,  at  more  than 
one  place  on  the  Greek  mainland. 

All  these  graves  were  thought  by  M.  Stais  and  by  Dummler2 
to  be  the  graves  of  a  people  who  were  quite  distinct,  racially,  from 
the  later  Mycenaeans;  they  were  called  variously  Carians, 
Lycians  and  Pelasgians.  M.  Tsountas  alone  maintained  the 
opinion  that  a  difference  in  burial  did  not  necessarily  imply  a 
difference  in  race.  In  its  bearing  on  this  question,  the  evidence 
from  Sphoungaras  is  apparently  decisive,  for  it  shows  that  the 
highly  developed  Minoan  civilization  as  well  as  the  older  and 
more  primitive  societies  of  the  mainland  sometimes  buried  their 
dead  in  jars.  This  cemetery,  moreover,  serves  to  connect  such 
earlier  sporadic  instances  of  burials  under  jars  with  the  later 
practices  of  the  geometric  period. 

1  For  this  list  of  pithos-burials  I  am  indebted  to  Zehetmaier,  Leichenverbrennung  und  Leichen- 
verstaltung  im  alien  Hellas,  p.  43.  For  the  few  particulars  which  are  given  about  these  burials 
see  for  those  at  Thorikos:  'E<f>.  'Apx-,  1895,  p.  228  f;  for  those  at  Aigina  where  no  pithoi  were  re- 
covered but  only  the  circular  pits  in  which  they  had  stood,  id.,  p.  248;  for  those  at  Aphidna, 
Athen.  Mitt.,  1896,  p.  385  ff;  for  those  at  Tiryns  and  Arkesine  on  Amorgos,  'E<f>.  Apx-,  1898,  p.  210. 

2  Cf.  also  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  Fart,  II,  p.  373. 


EDITH  H.  HALL — EXCAVATIONS  IN  EASTERN  CRETE. 


73 


Early  P 
Minoan  I. 


Early 
Minoan  II. 


No  graves  found. 


Rock  shelters, 


Cist  graves, 


Zakro, 

Hagios  Nikolaos, 
Hagia  Photia, 
Sphoungaras, 
Mochlos, 
Sphoungaras, 


Pseira, 
Mochlos, 

Rectangular      chamber  Mochlos, 

tombs  (roofed). 
Circular  chamber  tombs    The  Messara  Hagia  Tri- 

(unroofed?),  ada, 

Koumasa, 

Larnakes,  Sphoungaras, 


B.  S.  A.,  VII,  p.  143. 
B.  S.  A.,  IX,  p.  340. 
Gournia,  p.  56. 
Ibid. 

On    evidence     of  loose 

stones. 
Unpublished. 

Explorations  in  the  Island 
of  Mochlos,  p.  13. 

Mem.  R.  1st.  Lomb.,  XXI, 

1905.. 
Unpublished. 

On  evidence  of  fragments. 


Early 
Minoan  III 


All  the  types  of  graves  found  in  the  Early  Minoan  II  period  occur  here  also. 


Middle 
Minoan  I. 


Rock  shelters,  Hagia  Photia, 

Cist  graves  (reused),  Pseira, 
Narrow  burial  chambers,  Palaikastro, 

Gournia, 
Vasiliki,1 

Circular  chamber  tombs    The  Messara, 

(unroofed?). 
Larnakes,  Sphoungaras, 


B 


urial  jars, 


Pseira, 
Sphoungaras, 


Gournia,  p.  56. 

Unpublished, 

B.  S.  A.,  VIII,  p.  291. 

Gournia,  p.  56. 

Trans.,  Vol.  II,  Part  II, 

p.  115. 
Unpublished. 

On  the  evidence  of  frag- 
ments. 
Unpublished. 


Middle 
Minoan  II. 


No  graves  found. 


Middle 
Minoan  III. 


Cist  graves  (reused), 
Burial  jars, 


Pseira, 

Sphoungaras. 

Mochlos, 


Unpublished. 

Explorations  in  the  Island 
of  Mochlos,  p.  14. 


Late 
Minoan  I. 


Burial  jars, 


Sphoungaras. 
Mochlos, 


Unpublished. 


Late 
Minoan  II. 


Late 
Minoan  III. 


Rectangular  chamber 
tombs  of  squared 
blocks,  and  roofed, 

Pit  graves,  \ 

Shaft  graves,  j 


Isopata, 


Zafer  Papoura, 


Prehistoric  Tombs  of 
Knossos,  pp.  136  and 
1-21. 

Id.,  pp.  1-21. 

Id.,  pp.  1-2 1. 


Larnakes, 
Beehive  tombs, 


Pit  graves, 
Shaft  graves, 
Rectangular  chamber- 
tombs. 


Gournia, 

Hagios  Theodoros, 

Anoia    Messaritica  and 

Milatos, 
Palaiokastro, 
Episkopi, 

Erganos,    Panagia  and 

Courtes, 
Zafer  Papoura, 


Gournia,  pp.  45  and  46. 
Transactions',  II,  Part  II, 

1907,  p.  131. 
Mon.  Ant.,  1889,  p.  201. 

B.  S.  A.,  VIII,  p.  303. 
Unpublished. 

A.  J.  A.,  1901,  Vol.  XI,  p. 

259  ff. 
hoc.  cit.,  pp.  I— 21. 


Here  the  burial  chambers  contained  larnakes. 


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